Steerable guide rail for longwall mining apparatus

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for the mechanical extraction of coal and other minerals wherein plates which connect a guide rail to the seam floor cap or beam of a self-advancing roof support system are provided on the waste side with an angled-off portion which points towards the seam roof.

United States Patent Grebe et al.

[ 5] Mar. 14, 1972 [54] STEERABLE GUIDE RAIL FOR LONGWALL MINING APPARATUS [72] Inventors: Konrad Grebe; Gudrun Winterhott, both of Wuppertal-Elberfeld, Germany [73] Assignee: said Grebe, by said Winterhoff [22] Filed: Feb. 2, I970 [21] Appl. No.: 12,882

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Feb. 5, 1969 Germany ..P 19 05 615.6

[ [51] [58] Field of Search ..299/3234, 42, 299/43 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,276,819 10/1966 Lobbe et al ..299/32 3,357,742 12/1967 Dommann et al. ..299/32 3,390,915 7/1968 Grebe ..299/32 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,334,604 7/1963 France ..299/34 1,483,974 6/1967 France ..299/34 Primary Examiner-Ernest R. Purser Attorney-Burgess, Dinklage & Sprung [5 7] ABSTRACT Apparatus for the mechanical extraction of coal and other minerals wherein plates which connect a guide rail to the seam floor cap or beam of a self-advancing roof support system are provided on the waste side with an angled-off portion which points towards the seam roof.

5 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures Patented March 14, 1972 3,649,078

FIG. I.

INVE NTORS KONRAD GREBE GUDRUN WINTERHOF F M WW AT TORNEVS.

STEERABLE GUIDE RAIL FOR LONGWALL MINING APPARATUS The invention relates to a guide rail intended for use with an apparatus for mechanically winning coal or other minerals present in seam formation in long-wall workings.

ln my prior British Pat. No. 1,116,503 corresponding to German Pat. No. 1,248,588 and to U.S. Pat. No. 3,390,915 I have claimed apparatus for the mechanical extraction of coal and other minerals occurring in seam formation by the long wall method of working comprising a roof support system in combination with a conveyor at the coal face side of the system. The roof support system has support frames alternately advanced by thrust devices to provide roof support over the conveyor and rearwardly thereof as the support system and conveyor are advanced towards the face. A cutter chain is arranged to run at the top of the face and at the foot of the face in guides comprising interarticulated rail sections. This chain is supported at roof level at the coal face side of the roof support system and at floor level in front of the conveyor. The support system includes means for the angular adjustment and setting, with respect to the angle of inclination of the chain guide sections both at roof level and at floor level and hence of the angle of attack of the cutters with respect to the coal face, of the cutter chain flights moving along said cutter chain guides. In accordance with the above-identified patent, an adjusting mechanism was provided in addition to the referred to adjusting device, by means of which heightwise location of the said chain can be altered; the second-mentioned adjusting mechanism enables fixtures (mountings) of the guide rail arranged on the seam floor cap to be connected to the seam floor caps of the self-advancing roof support system. This second-mentioned adjusting mechanism is capable of thrusting the guide rail against the seam floor to counteract the tendency of the guide rail to move upwards (for example because the cutter device has a tendency to climb in the guide rail); also this adjusting mechanism was capable of lifting the guide rail from the seam floor when extraction (excavation) had to continue in a rising plane. An adjusting mechanism of this kind has the drawback that it must extend in the space between the long-wall mine face and the conveyor so that it can hinder the operation of loading the conveyor. Conversely, actuation of the adjusting mechanism is, for the same reason, only possible with difficulty while coal or other minerals are actually in progress of being won, and the adjusting mechanism itself may be damaged owing to its being struck by large clumps of mined material.

The present invention constitutes an improvement in or modification of the apparatus described and claimed in the above-mentioned patent and has the object of so developing the apparatus according to this patent that the above-mentioned difficulties are removed while the amenability of the guide rail to control remains unaltered. To this end and in accordance with the present invention the plates which connect the guide rail to the seam floor cap of the self-advancing roof propping structure are provided on the waste-side with an angled-off portion which points towards the seam roof. The upper end of this angled-off portion, which lies in front of the working-face side prop of the frame and above the seam floor cap, is supported from a stop or abutment which lies to the rear of the working-face side prop of the frame, by a resiliently yielding and possibly adjustable supporting device.

This resiliently yielding supporting means ensures that at all times the guide rail will be thrust against the seam floor with the required pressure. In principle it would be possible to clamp this supporting device between the upper end of the said angled-off portion and the working-face side prop of the frame. However, this would entail the drawback that, while the frame was being advanced, the prop would tend to assume a rearwardly inclined position; owing to the fact that the said angled-off portion is supported from a stop of the seam floor cap, any such tendency is precluded. In this way it is also ensured that the seam floor cap is subjected to greater loading in its rearward region, which assists the self-advancing motion of the roofsupport.

When the cutter device is intended to penetrate into the seam floor, then-as described in the above-identified patent,the pin which serves to suspend the plate is lifted by the first-mentioned adjusting mechanism. The plate, whose rear end is carried by the pin will only lie with its working-face side .on the seam floor. In its normal position the underside of the plate will be supported from the seam floor. lf mechanical extraction at the working face is to proceed at a higher level, then it will be necessary to lift the guide rail from the seam floor to a corresponding extent; this can be realized by effectively shortening the supporting device without altering the heightwise position of the pin by means of which the plate is suspended.

However, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention the guide rail is raised by lowering the said pin, the plate which interconnects the guide rail sections to the seam floor cap being constituted in such manner that it engages under the guide rail and increases progressively in thickness in the direction from the working face to the waste. More specifically, the thickness of the plate increases uniformly in the vicinity of the working face, that is to say substantially below the guide rail, and increases at a more shallow angle in the vicinity of the waste side, that is to say substantially below the conveyor.

The underside of the plate is thus fonned in the manner of a gable or ridge, the apex of this gable or ridge formation pointing towards the seam floor. Thus, in its normal position the plate no longer lies with its full length on the seam floor but only with that part of its length which extends from the working-face side edge to the apex of the said gable formation. When the pin which engages the waste side end of the plate is raised, the apex of the gable shape will be raised from the seam floor while the front edge of the plate remains supported by the seam floor. On the other hand, when the pin is lowered, the apex of the gable or ridge formation remains supported by the seam floor, so that the working-face side edge of the guide rail must be lifted.

In an ascending working face the frames might tend to move away from one another in a descending direction while they were being advanced, whereas the lengths of the guide rail sections, which are in turn advanced by these frames and which are supported by one another, cannot alter. A reduction in the spacing between adjacent frames can therefore only be compensated-if a uniform advancing motion of the frames is to be ensuredby the guide rail sections assuming a heightwise angled positioning relative to one another, with the result that the guide rail system as a whole will define one or more upwardly or downwardly curved (protuberant) portions. In order, in spite of this, to hold the guide rail sections on the seam floor and to enable mechanical extraction to proceed in a correct manner, extremely large forces would have to be exerted and these would necessitate the plates (and the supporting device associated with the plates) to be of a correspondingly robust strong construction. In order to ensure that, under these conditions, the plates and supporting devices will only have to sustain loads of an acceptable magnitude, it is proposed, in accordance with a further feature of this invention, that the seam face caps of adjacent frames (which are provided with supporting devices of this kind for the guide rail sections) should be supported from one another by means of spacing elements which lie close to the working-face side props, between the seam floor caps, and parallel to the guide rail sections. These spacing elements cann0tas can the guide rails-shift or be shifted in height relative to the seam floor caps. As the seam floor caps are reliably head on the seam floor by the props, which are subjected to at least some degree of thrust by the fluid pressure medium even while the frames are being advanced, the spacing elements are also continuously maintained in their prescribed heightwise position; thus, the spacing between the frames does not alter, at least at the working-face side, while these frames are being advanced, so that any danger of the guide rail system assuming a curved or protuberant shape as a result of alterations in the mutual spacing of the frames is eliminated in an extremely simple manner.

According to the above-identified patent wedging tools are also associated with the cutter chain which is guided in the guide rail controlled according to the present invention, these wedging tools serving to advance the working face. In principle it is also possible to guide, in an analogous manner, winning tools-which execute a curling or paring cut-in a guide rail of this kind.

The appended drawing illustrates an embodiment of the invention. In this drawing:

FIG. 1 is a view, similar to that illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13 of the above-identified patent, but with that guide rail which is arranged on the seam roof being omitted in this view,

FIG. 2 shows a detail of FIG. 1 on an enlarged scale.

Referring now to the drawing, 135 designates a plate whose thickness progressively increases and which has an angled-off portion 136, which is suspended from a pin 141. The thickness of the plate 135 uniformly increases from its working-face side edge to the apex 149 of a gableor ridge-like formation thereon which points towards the seam floor. From the apex 149 of this gableor ridge-like formation to the angled-off portion of the plate 135 lying at the waste side of the plate, the thickness of the plate continues to increase but at a more shallow angle. In the normal position of the plate 135 illustrated in FIG. 1, the portion of the plate extending from the workingface side edge thereof to the apex of the said gable-like formation is in alignment with the underside of the seam floor cap 39, whereas the portions of the plate 135 lying to the rear of the said apex are raised up from the seam floor.

In the working face the frames of the self-advancing roof support system, which are provided with seam floor caps 39 and with seam roof caps 40, lie successively adjacent one another in a descending formation, these frames serving to advance articulated guide rail sections 9 which guide the winning equipment. Located on the working-face side of each of the seam floor caps 39 lies a respective one of the plates 135 whose thickness, as already mentioned, is arranged to progressively increase, these plates 135 being in approximate alignment with or a continuation of the upper and lower (as considered in the direction of extent of the working face) flanges of these seam floor caps. Between each seam floor cap 39 and the angled-off portion 136 of the two tapered plates associated with the seam floor cap, pivot plate 139 is provided which is rigidly connected to the seam floor cap 39. The two pivot plates 139 each define an elongated hole 140 in which a pin 141 is located in such manner as to enable the pin to have its heightwise position altered, although the position of the pin 141 cannot be altered in the direction of the advancing motion of the roofsupport system while it is thus being guided in hole 140. The two tapered plates 135 associated with the same seam floor cap are suspended from the same pin 141. The two pivot plates 139 associated with the same seam floor cap are interconnected by a cover plate 139'. The cover plate 139' has a bore in its center portion, and a spindle 143. A screwhead 144 is fixed to the spindle 143 and abuts the top of the cover plate 139. Below the cover plate 139 the spindle is provided with screwthreading along which a nut 145 is screwed into position. Once the nut 145 has assumed the desired position on the screwthread it is locked against further rotation, below the cover plate 139', by (for example) a locking pin or tongue which passes through the nut and the spindle. The spindle whose heightwise position is thus fixed engages in a body whose upper part 146 constitutes a nut which engages the Screwthread of the spindle; the center part 147 of this body has a vertical recess or opening, and the lower part 148 has a horizontal bore. The vertical recess or opening of the part 147 of the said body enables the latter to be shifted upwards or downwards when the spindle 143 is turned by means of its screwhead 144, whose heightwise position is invariable. Pin 14] passes through the horizontal bore of part 148 of the said body. The position of the pin 141 in the direction of advance of the self-advancing roof support system is defined by the walls of the elongate hole 140. but the heightwise position of the pin 141 is determined by the instantaneous heightwise position of the assembly of parts 146-148; the heightwise position of this assembly of parts 146-148 is itself controlled by the rotation of spindle 143.

Each piston co-operating with a respective cylinder 151 is articulated by means of a pin 150 to the upper end of a respective one of the angled-off portions of adjacent plates as two plates 135 co-operate with each seam floor cap two of the abovementioned cylinders 151 are also associated with each frame. As considered in the direction of extent of the working face these cylinders 151 are located above and below the working-face side prop and on the waste side are supported in articulated manner from a stop 152 of the seam floor cap 39. The waste side chamber of each cylinder is continuously subjected to the action of fluid pressure medium, so that the tapered plate 135 will be reliably thrust against the seam floor. In order to ensure that the arrangement whereby the cylinders are each supported from the stops on the seam floor cap is not an inflexibly rigid one-as, if this were so, the plates 135 could be forced to benda pressure relief valve is provided for discharging fluid pressure medium from the cylinder chambers whenever the pressure acting on the plates 135 is liable to become unacceptably great.

The spacing elements (not shown) positioned between the adjacent seam floor caps are supported for example at point 153 and extend perpendicularly of the direction in which the caps are advanced.

What I claim is:

1. In an apparatus for the mechanical winning of coal and other minerals present in seams in longwall workings, comprising a self-advancing roof support system, a guide rail consisting of rail sections which are articulated to one another and to the frames of said self-advancing roof support, means for continuously advancing this guide rail with said roof support system means for adjusting and locking said guide rail in a desired pivotal position, cutter chain means adapted to cut a trench in front of and at the seam floor of said long wall guided in said guide rail sections; plates rigidly fixed to the ends of these guide rail sections carrying a conveyor connecting such sections to seam floor caps of the self-advancing roof support system, a pin which is adjustable in its heightwise position relative to the seam floor caps connecting said plates to said seam floor caps; the improvement which comprises plates (135) provided on the waste side of said apparatus with an angledoff portion (136) which points toward the seam roof, an upper end of this angled-off portion (136), which lies in front of the working-face side ofthe frame and above the seam floor cap, a resiliently yielding supporting device (151) supporting said angled-off portion and a stop (152) which lies to the rear of the working-face side of the frame terminating said supporting device.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, in which the seam floor caps of adjacent frames, are provided with means for supporting the guide rail sections through intermediate spacing elements which lie parallel to the guide rail sections.

3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said supporting device (151) is adjustable.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said plate which interconnects the guide rail sections to the seam floor cap engages under the guide rail (9), and wherein the thickness of the plate increases in the direction from the working-face side edge to the waste side edge of the guide rail.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein said plate thickness increases uniformly from the working-face side thereof to an intermediate point and then increases in thickness at a lesser rate from said intermediate point to the waste side thereof. 

1. In an apparatus for the mechanical winning of coal and other minerals present in seams in longwall workings, comprising a self-advancing roof support system, a guide rail consisting of rail sections which are articulated to one another and to the frames of said self-advancing roof support, means for continuously advancing this guide rail with said roof support system means for adjusting and locking said guide rail in a desired pivotal position, cutter Chain means adapted to cut a trench in front of and at the seam floor of said long wall guided in said guide rail sections; plates rigidly fixed to the ends of these guide rail sections carrying a conveyor connecting such sections to seam floor caps of the self-advancing roof support system, a pin which is adjustable in its heightwise position relative to the seam floor caps connecting said plates to said seam floor caps; the improvement which comprises plates (135) provided on the waste side of said apparatus with an angled-off portion (136) which points toward the seam roof, an upper end of this angled-off portion (136), which lies in front of the working-face side of the frame and above the seam floor cap, a resiliently yielding supporting device (151) supporting said angled-off portion and a stop (152) which lies to the rear of the working-face side of the frame terminating said supporting device.
 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, in which the seam floor caps of adjacent frames, are provided with means for supporting the guide rail sections through intermediate spacing elements which lie parallel to the guide rail sections.
 3. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said supporting device (151) is adjustable.
 4. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said plate which interconnects the guide rail sections to the seam floor cap engages under the guide rail (9), and wherein the thickness of the plate increases in the direction from the working-face side edge to the waste side edge of the guide rail.
 5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, wherein said plate thickness increases uniformly from the working-face side thereof to an intermediate point and then increases in thickness at a lesser rate from said intermediate point to the waste side thereof. 